Long days, Long nights, Long Baby

(Pictures at the end of this post)

A friend at church told me the secret to parenting while I was pregnant. She said, "I feed my kids before they are hungry and put them to bed before they are tired." With that strategy, she avoided the over-tired, over-hungry grumpies that make life hard, especially for small children. Adults can struggle too, speaking as one who has never done well when either hungry or tired. The combination is devastating. Take Saturday as an example:

Zoey had a rough morning, meaning mom had one too. Kevin went off to the gym, which would have been just fine, IF Zoey had gone to sleep like she should have instead of being screamy McScream (thanks for the phrase Chris) for a very long time. Not only was she over-tired, but mommy was too; no nap for the Zoester meant no nap for me. When the hubby finally got home sporting a new hair cut I found it hard to be upset by his long absence because I've been bugging him to get his hair cut for weeks! What he found was his wife as a big puddle of mush wrapped in the pepto bismal pink Hello Kitty blanket. Zoey was screaming in her crib and I was crying on the couch too tired to deal with the baby I couldn't console. After a long nap I felt much more human, but then came the over-hungry issue.

I should have eaten before we left. I should have eaten as soon as we got to Costco--mmmm pizza. I should have stopped someplace on the way home to get food. Instead, I fell apart in the parking garage when I realized I didn't have apartment keys and Kevin was still at the motorcyle shop (near Costco) picking up his bike. I'm sure hormones had something to do with my shoulder-shaking sobbing, but low blood sugar played a role too. As soon as I ate, I felt much better. Later that night, rested and fed, I could laugh when Zoey peed on me just before I lowered her into the water for a bath instead of breaking down into hysterics. Being tired from a long night and not having eaten enough made for a long day.

Speaking of long, I feel like Zoey is growing really quickly. She's still a tiny newborn (one month today!), but she seems bigger to me now. She's past her birth weight. The length is what is getting me. A friend visited the other day with her three month old, who was of course much chunkier than my girl, but they were about the same length. It isn't a surprise to anyone that Kevin and I will likely have tall kids. But she's already 22 1/4 inches; that's two inches more than at birth. Okay, the measurement isn't very scientific because she's sleeping and I'm NOT going to wake her, but it is probably close to accurate. Here's a picture to prove we've got a growing girl!

Couldn't resist posting this one too. Love the tounge hanging out!